Our 2023 Speakers…

Eric H.

Eric Hernandez is a Native American Hoop Dancer, Storyteller affiliated with the Lumbee Tribe. Eric has shared his story with millions around the world as the Lead Character in The Cirque du Soleil Touring production, TOTEM. Eric was taught the Hoop dance at a very young age by his uncle Terry Goedel. After 8 years of touring, Eric is now based in Los Angeles, where he continues to share, educate, inspire, heal, and entertain people through the Hoop Dance.

AYATI M.

Ayati Mishra is a high school junior passionate about using science to help the global community. She has been interning at an Alzheimer’s disease research lab at Harvard Medical School for over 6 months, and at a lab at the UCI School of Medicine for over a year. Ayati believes that it is an innovator’s duty to share their advancements with the world; demonstrating this ideology, she presented her work from UCI at the Johns Hopkins Global Health Leaders Conference: a prestigious international conference featuring talks from Nobel Laureates, world-renowned professors, humanitarians, researchers, and physicians.

Nicole S.

Nicole Smolinski, MS Clinical Psychology, is a writer, well-being event host and associate mental health clinician in California. As she spent time with her therapy clients, she began dreaming up ways where the principles she’s guided people through in therapy could be brought outside of the therapy room and into our communities. Her writing content and wellness events were born out of a vision where well-being is accessible, connective and non-intimidating for the everyday person. 

CHAD A.

Chad is the founder & principal of Chad Aboud Consulting. Chad is a former General Counsel and BigLaw Lawyer with a passion and purpose to unleash the natural traits and skills that are within us, so that we are more successful and feel happier in our careers. When he became General Counsel of an international portfolio of tech companies, Chad leveraged his natural skills and the power of relationships to build a thriving Legal team, integrate Legal within the business teams, and implement Legal Technology that revolutionized the company’s operations.

SHAWN A.

Dr. Shawn Andrews is a keynote speaker, organizational consultant, and author of the best-selling book, The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide. She’s been a Forbes contributor, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, and interviewed on dozens of podcast and radio shows, including NPR. One of the things she's most proud of is serving as a professor at UC Irvine business school, teaching courses on Women and Leadership and Organizational Behavior.

AARON J.

Aaron Johnson is a facilitator, public speaker, and touch specialist who works towards identifying and interrupting barriers between people. As co-founder of both Holistic Resistance and Grief to Action, Aaron takes the time to hold the stories of black people around homophobia, transphobia, internalized racism, and those that are Chronically UnderTouched. Because oppression is a part of historical and present American culture, the long term impact of those trauma stories should be acknowledged and held as a map for our collective healing.